Alexander S Little, Isaac T Younker, Matthew S Schechter, Paola Nol Bernardino, Raphaël Méheust, Joshua Stemczynski, Kaylie Scorza, Michael W Mullowney, Deepti Sharan, Emily Waligurski, Rita Smith, Ramanujam Ramanswamy, William Leiter, David Moran, Mary McMillin, Matthew A Odenwald, Anthony T Iavarone, Ashley M Sidebottom, Anitha Sundararajan, Eric G Pamer, A Murat Eren, Samuel H Light
Respiratory reductases enable microorganisms to use molecules present in anaerobic ecosystems as energy-generating respiratory electron acceptors. Here we identify three taxonomically distinct families of human gut bacteria (Burkholderiaceae, Eggerthellaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae) that encode large arsenals of tens to hundreds of respiratory-like reductases per genome. Screening species from each family (Sutterella wadsworthensis, Eggerthella lenta and Holdemania filiformis), we discover 22 metabolites used as respiratory electron acceptors in a species-specific manner...
January 2024: Nature Microbiology